Aftermath
by Knight-whosays-ni
Summary: After the events of the Chamber, Ginny is gone. Only Ginevra exists now, but she can't bear to let her family know that. Songfic to Paradise by Vanessa Carlton.


_Once upon a year gone by_

_She saw herself give in_

_Every time she closed her eyes, _

_she saw what could have been_

Ginny Weasley was angry with herself. No. More than that. Far more. What Ginny Weasley felt was... was...

Loathing.

Ginny Weasley loathed herself, and with a passion. Also, sadly married to the self-loathing that filled her was desolation.

Ginny Weasley felt desolation for she had nearly killed her best friend.

Ginny Weasley felt desolation for she had nearly killed an innocent bystander.

Ginny Weasley felt desolation for she had nearly killed Harry Potter.

_Well nothing hurts and nothing bleeds_

_With covers tucked in tight._

_Funny when the bottom _

_Drops out_

_She forgets to fight,_

_To fight._

She had nearly killed Harry. The one person that Pre-Chamber, Pre-Tom Ginny had hero worshiped since she first saw him. The boy that she had sent the stupidest valentine with the most atrocious song. had loved and adored with all her 11 year old heart

But Post-Tom Ginny was different.

Post-Tom Ginny had been raped.

_Well, it's_

_One more day in Paradise_

_One more day in Paradise_

No, not in the physical sense. Tom Marvolo Riddle, he who Ginny confided in that first hard year of school, had raped her soul.

And Ginny, poor, sweet 11 year old Ginny,

was no longer Ginny.

Ginny would dance in the flower fields behind the Burrow. Ginny would smile and joke and tease with her brothers. Ginny would stick her elbow in the butter dish.

Ginny was now Ginervra.

Ginny had been 11 when she entered the Chamber of Secrets. Ginervra was much, much older when she left.

To have the 16 year old, Diary bound representation of the darkest wizard in recorded history take control of your mind and body, and have your soul's innocence taken away by such a being will do that to a person.

_As Darkness quickly steals the light that_

_Shined within her eyes,_

_She slowly swallows all her fears and_

_Soothes her mind with lies_

Ginervra believed, no, knew that Tom's coming was her fault.

And no matter what anyone, said, no one, not her father, her mother, her brothers Ron, Fred, George, Percy Charlie, not even Bill, Bill, her favorite brother, could convince her otherwise.

She could have left the diary, ignored Tom, or, better yet, burned the whole damned thing, but she didn't. She kept the diary, she let it devour her, fill her soul with rancid and evil thoughts. She had betrayed everyone. Her parents, her brothers, her professors, Hermione, ... Harry.

Harry!

_Well all she wants_

_And all she needs _

_are reasons to survive. _

_A day_

_In which_

_The Sun _

_Will take_

_Her artificial light_

_Her light._

Oh, how could Harry live with the emptiness, the black soul that Tom had left him with? How could he survive with the void filled with evil that his touch had created?

Or maybe, just maybe, it was just Ginervra that Tom had defiled so. Perhaps Harry had been lucky enough to escape the darkness. The Darkness that slowly rotted Tom from the decent person he was to the twisted, perverted, deranged being he was.

Ginervra looked inside herself just then, recuperating in the hospital wing. She wanted to see what damage Tom had done to what he could not take. She took a look inside her self to see her soul, or, what was left of it.

What met Ginevra's eyes was a frightening sight. What had been a pale pink, spherical ball was now a dark red, tattered oval, bleeding its innocence into the surrounding black that took it, never to be seen again.

_And it's one more day in_

_Paradise_

_One more day in _

_Paradise_

Ginevra's tears soon became mingled with the blood of her soul, leaking out through the cuts and scrapes she had gained from the Chamber.

Taking a look to her left, Ginevra saw her parents, sleeping, worry etched into every line, concern sown into every sleep-derived murmur. Tear tracks glistened mournfully down her mother's face. To her right, she saw her brother Bill, growling fiercely in his sleep. He had expressed his anger at Tom, the school, and himself in ways that their mother would have gasped at, were she not so pointedly concentrating on Ginevra. Her tears fell all the harder when she realized she was the cause of such consternation. Well, Ginny had to come back. Ginevra could hide in the closet, stay there, only to live while Ginny was alone. She could not be the reason for such anguish in her family. Ginevra would make a subdued appearance for the next few weeks, to make it seem, realistic, believable. To make it seem as if she truly had recovered. For no one, not even her uncaring brother Percy would believe that she could endure the chamber and come out unscathed. It would be...

Inhuman.

_Don't pretend to hold it in_

_Just let it out_

_Don't pretend to hold it in_

_Just push it out_

_Don't you try to hold it in_

_Just let it out_

_Don't you try to hold it in_

_Hold it in._

Ginny could see it now, the unshed tears of her mother, the utter concern of her father, the worry that Bill would show if she did not seem to be affected. If there was one thing Tom had taught Ginevra, it was how to lie.

_One more day in Paradise_

_One more day in Paradise_

_One more day in Paradise_

_One last chance to _

_Be _

_Alright_

Inside, Ginevra would feel the pain. Inside, she would hear herself scream and rave and cry for the child she had been. Inside she would know what was done to her. But on the outside, no one would be able to tell.

No one would be the wiser. Ginny would come back after a few short weeks, after a somewhat diluted Ginevra had her time, and then, everything would be back to normal. No one would know.

_Once upon_

_A year gone by_

_She saw herself _

_Give in._

_Every time she closed her eyes_

_She saw_

_What could_

_Have..._

Except Ginevra.

_Been_


End file.
